As a Newton resident and a student researcher at MIT, I am particularly concerned about how national budget decisions affect our local communities and public health. The project that I have worked on for the past year, developing a vaccine for a deadly fungal infection, has been cancelled due to NIH and Fulbright budget cuts. The vaccine was to combat the Candida auris outbreak our country is currently facing, an urgent action given its multidrug resistant nature and 30–72% mortality rate.
In 2023, there were 4,514 confirmed cases of the infection in the U.S., and that number has doubled each year since 2016. These are all vast underestimates though, because most facilities don’t have the tools to test for the pathogen. It is likely that 4,000-17,000 Americans will die from Candida auris during 2025; we need a vaccine to prevent further deaths.
A vaccine for this infection would lead the way for other anti-fungal vaccines, none of which currently exist. Fungal infections kill over 3.8 million people globally each year. A breakthrough on this front would put the U.S. as the leading nation in this field.
Even if one’s sole motivation was money, gutting the budget for NIH is still ridiculous. The NIH returns $2.56 to the American economy for every dollar spent on the program. In 2024 alone, NIH produced $94.58 billion for the U.S. economy and supported nearly half a million jobs.
Budget cuts to the NIH are a net negative in every regard. Newton is a community that values science, education, and public health. We all need to stand up and protest the current budget cuts. Please call and write Newton’s Washington delegation — Senator Warren, Senator Markey, and Representative Auchincloss — today.
William Truncer
Newton Upper Falls
